UICA Executive Director Jeffrey Meeuwsen and Ja' Quari Moore-Bass receive the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award from First Lady Michelle Obama.

ArtWorks, the Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts' youth
program, has earned national recognition with an award from First Lady Michelle
Obama.

Grand Rapids
resident Ja' Quari Moore-Bass, 19, received the National Arts and Humanities
Youth Program Award on behalf of ArtWorks during a ceremony in WashingtonD.C.
on Wednesday. Moore-Bass has been a part of the ArtWorks program for three
years. In the program, he created three murals for area businesses, a display
for ArtPrize, and screen-prints for the UICA.

"Having the chance to represent my peers in accepting this
award from the First Lady of the United States in the White House
was an experience that I'll never forget," Moore-Bass said. "It showed me that
the power of programs like ArtWorks to change kids' lives is recognized and
valued."

The ArtWorks program, founded in 2001, aims to prepare youths
ages fourteen to twenty-one for twenty-first century creative careers. The
program provides studio experiences, professional resources, and opportunities
for students to display their work. More than 1,000 youths have participated in
the program.

"By engaging and inspiring young people, ArtWorks is giving
them not just the vision but the skills to build a new and better life for
themselves and their families, and for our community," said Kathryn Chaplow, the
UICA's board president. "These young people are learning how to use creative
thinking to work as a team, to solve problems and to express themselves
constructively. These are exactly the kinds of skills we want them to have to
be able to succeed in school, in work and in life."

ArtWorks was selected from 471 nominations to receive the award, which is administered
by the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities in collaboration
with the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the
Humanities, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Along with the
award, the UICA received $10,000 for the program.

"We hope this award will draw attention to the documented fact that programs
like ours are essential investments not just in the lives of our young people,
but in our community, as well," said Becca Guyette, manager of Youth and
Community Services for UICA. "We're incredibly proud of this achievement
and of the young people, volunteers, supporters, board and staff who made it
possible."